


Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

by MidoriKurenaiYume



Series: Winter Wonderland [11]
Category: Fate/Zero, Fate/stay night & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alternate Universe, Christmas Eve, Cultural Differences, Dialogue, F/M, Friendship, Platonic Relationships, Work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-21
Updated: 2018-12-21
Packaged: 2019-09-16 22:26:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16962639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MidoriKurenaiYume/pseuds/MidoriKurenaiYume
Summary: Arturia is one of Santa's elves, Gilgamesh is a bored demon. Yet they still celebrate Christmas. Kind of.





	Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> This is the last Winter one-shot before Christmas :) it's very important to me, as I got the idea when thinking about what 'Christmas' truly means, and thinking about my family, who lives all around the world, celebrating different cultures and beliefs. I hope you'll like it!!!  
> ([here](https://agilartlogbook.tumblr.com/post/181267552030/have-yourself-a-merry-little-christmas) on tumblr)
> 
> Title: from a Christmas song, which was also sung by Kalafina and is on their album 'Winter Acoustic ~ Kalafina with strings' :D  
> THEME: overcoming differences.

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She had just finished her routine when she heard a small sound coming from the entrance.

Arturia had done her morning checks, going through the huge laboratories to make sure that they were empty, that all the machines had been turned off properly and that everything was ready for the following night. Most of the times it was a rather relaxed task, but since it was Christmas Eve, everyone was stressed and understandably ready to panic over any little detail.

As one of Santa’s elves, Arturia was always on edge too, but she would never allow the immense pressure to prevent her from doing her morning checks after yet another exhausting night of work.

She heard the sound again, and her long pointy ears quivered, as they always did when she was disquieted. She wasn’t feeling wary because there was an unknown being in the labs; she was apprehensive because she _knew_ who had produced those noises with the precise intention of catching her attention.

She immediately marched towards the entrance, anxiety coiling tight in her stomach. Gilgamesh wasn’t a particularly respectful demon and had amused himself by causing her trouble more than once. Preventing him from creating irreparable damage around the labs was usually something she regarded as a challenge and therefore didn’t _truly_ mind, but she wasn’t in the mood for his disruptive behaviour at the moment.

He wasn’t flying around as he always did when she reached the entrance; this time he was perched on the tallest pile of gifts – all carefully wrapped and divided by weight – and seemed to be lost in his thoughts, at least judging by the fact that he didn’t even glance in her direction when she came in.

His unfamiliar behaviour, coupled with his position on top of a precariously stable pile – one that had taken the elves hours to prepare – made Arturia’s ears itch with growing wariness. His presence there was a risk on the best of days, so the fact that he had showed up on Christmas Eve seemed a truly dark sign of foreboding: he was fully capable of jeopardizing all the elves’ work, and there would be no time to get everything ready again–

As if he had read her mind, he suddenly turned to give her an amused glance, his tail jerking briefly, even though there was still a contemplative light in his blood red eyes.

“We both know that you would be fully capable of fixing things even if I did feel the desire to create a bit of healthy chaos in this overly organized place.” His gaze travelled from her to the other piles in the room, and a small smirk appeared on his face. “And indeed, I’m almost tempted to do that in order to liven up this dullness.”

Her pointy ears twitched in irritation, which she barely managed to repress as she took notice of the fact that he had declared that he _didn’t_ feel like wreaking havoc inside the room.

He stared at her with interest, and when he saw her holding back her annoyance, he seemed to relax, his tail starting to move around in an almost lazy manner, as it always did when he was alone with her and they weren’t arguing.

The fact that he had claimed that he wasn’t there to bring chaos didn’t mean that he wasn’t there for a reason. Since he still hadn’t told her what it was, however, it meant that she was going to have to wait, therefore she plopped down on the floor, giving into her tiredness and making herself comfortable in a sitting position.

For a second, she actually had to contemplate the possibility that he was keeping her busy while other demons made a mess of the labs, but she quickly discarded that alternative. If that were true, she would certainly hear them from there – especially since demons weren’t known to be particularly stealthy – and besides, she knew very well that the rare times in which Gilgamesh deigned to work with others, he would certainly never agree to play the part of the decoy.

Elves and demons weren’t necessarily hostile towards each other, but they did not have a cordial relationship either. The former were busy working with Santa, the latter… were basically spending their time in inventing elaborate pranks to play, not just on elves but on any creature that was unfortunate enough to become their target. It was therefore only natural that, whenever those two species happened to meet, they created moments filled with nothing but mistrust. The demons’ tails usually showed their circumspection by staying still, to avoid giving away their emotions, while the elves’ pointy ears usually stiffened with suspicion.

In spite of what the norm dictated, Gilgamesh’s tail seemed to always be rather relaxed when he was alone with Arturia, and her ears only trembled when she had to fight to repress her exasperation towards him. It was extremely odd that an elf and a demon could spend time together by simply bickering and exchanging verbal jabs instead of avoiding each other like the plague.

Then again, it wasn’t like anyone else knew about their occasional meetings.

“I’m bored,” he unexpectedly told her.

Seeing her blank look, he elaborated, some mild annoyance in his tone, “That’s the reason why I’m here. I haven’t found anything to do to amuse me.”

He sounded like a spoiled child, and Arturia had to hold herself back from the very strong temptation of rolling her eyes. It was obvious that he wasn’t telling the entire truth.

“You are here because you are bored,” she repeated flatly. “So it has nothing to do with the fact that tomorrow is Christmas, when you won’t be able to leave hell?”

He neither confirmed nor denied, seemingly ignoring her words, and simply added, “Maybe it’s also related to the fact that tomorrow you will be occupied.”

That was the complete and utter truth. Literally having to be all over the world at once to deliver the presents in the right time zones at the right time was definitely going to keep Santa and all the elves insanely busy.

An unexpected stab of sympathy – or even empathy – filled her chest. Neither elves nor demons were ever going to be able to enjoy and celebrate Christmas: elves were working the entire day, demons were banished from the human world.

The unforeseen feeling of kinship with him was the one and only responsible for the offer that blurted out of her lips.

“You could come here on the day after Christmas,” she began, and couldn’t help noticing how his tail darted towards her the same moment his eyes did. “I’m not a particularly gifted cook,” – her cooking was atrocious, her mind unmercifully reminded her – “but I can bake, and I make very good Christmas cookies.” There was a slightly awkward pause. “However, I usually go overboard and make too many for myself alone,” she admitted, a mildly sullen note creeping in her voice. “So, you may consider yourself invited.”

Gilgamesh was silent for a long while.

When she was already beginning to doubt the effectiveness of her impulsive proposition, he replied, “Do that the day after.”

She looked at him in confusion, and an ample smirk curved his lips as he jumped off the pile of gifts, leisurely coming to float in front of her. She stood up to face him, her expression questioning.

To her slight surprise and befuddlement, he flicked her ears, which twitched in instinct. He chuckled and evaded her attempt at retaliation, floating a little higher. Elves weren’t tall to begin with, and Arturia was smaller than most of her companions, which meant that it didn’t take him much to find a safe distance.

Before she could become any more frustrated at him, he casually commented, “You will be working the whole Christmas day.” She knew that the frown that was now gracing her already furrowed brow did not look particularly flattering on her, but he did not seem to care. “You will need to sleep in – even if you don’t want to,” he added as an afterthought, seeing her frown deepen. “I don’t intend to be treated to a meal by a zombiefied elf.”

He suddenly leaned closer, managing to poke her nose briefly and barely escaping before she was able to catch his hand. He poked her again, and this time she managed to snatch his hand. When she did, her tiny green one grasping his larger red one, he surprised her by squeezing it.

“Don’t forget to rest, little indefatigable elf,” he told her in a flippant tone, and the next instant, he released her hand and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Arturia blinked a couple of times, and then went to lock down the laboratories before making her way out.

As she watched the heavy doors slowly slide shut, she could not stop herself from thinking about his parting words, which clearly told her that he was aware of how Christmas day was going to take its toll on the elves. He had accepted her invitation, but not before making sure she would not forget to get some much needed rest.

Shaking her head, Arturia found herself wondering if demons were capable of being filled with altruistic Christmas spirit like everyone else, knowing that it was unlikely she would ever find a satisfying answer to that question.

She knew however that at least one certain demon – whom she was going to meet two days later – seemed to be capable of it, and the thought couldn’t help bringing a small but genuine smile to her face.

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